Cigar and method of making the same



L. A. M LEAN CIGAR AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Jan. 3, 1922 Inventor Patented Dec. 30, 1924.

PATENT OFFICE.

LEE A. MOLEAN, 6]? ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

CIGAR AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

Application filed January 3, 1922. Serial No. 526,468.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEE A. MoLnAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cigars and Methods of Making the Same, of which the following is a specification.

A Ci ars made of tobacco are universally provided with tips that must be either bitten or cut off. The making of this tip is the hardest part of the cigarmakers art, and enhances the cost of the labor in roducing the article out of proportion to t e rest of the cigar.

It is hard on the users teetli tobite oi? the above-mentioned tip. Some peoples teethare inadequate for this purpose. It is inconvenient to carry an individual cigarcutter or knife for this purpose. Sometimes a smoker finds that he has not his knife or cutter with him.

- To overcome the necessity for individual cutters or removal of the ti s with the teeth,

it is customary for a public cigar-cutter to be rovided in all places where cigars are sol It is a matter of common observation that these public cigar-cutters are unsanitary, for the reason that many persons place a cigar in the mouth before cutting its tip. After thus wetting the tip with then saliva, they use the cutter, whereby their saliva and germs are transferred to the next user of they occur,

such public cutter. This is not only unsanitary, but loathsome to the thought of refined persons.

The presence of the tip that has to be cut oil prevents a draft of air through the cigar. It is removed to permit this draft.

This present invention provides a cigar having an internal air-passage and a means and method for forming this air-passage in the cigar while the same is in building.

In the accompanying drawings forming art of this specification, in which like numbers of reference denote like parts wherever re 1 is a rst step perspective view illustrating the 1n the method herein described of building a cigar according to thepresent invention; 0 0

Figure 2 is a perspective v1eW of the cigar in building showing the building plug in position;

Figure 7 is an end elevation of the month end of the cigar.

The building plug 1 may be of any desired construction, but is preferably ta red as at 2, and may be provided with the ob 3 or other handle.

In use, the leaves 4 of tobacco are first rolled around the tip 2, 'as..at.5, and then layer upon layer of tobacco is rolled around the same as the cigar is built up, as shown in Figure 2.

The result of building the layers of the cigar 6 composed of the leaves 4 around the end of building plug 1 is that when the cigar is completed it contains an end air-passage or hole or hollow 7, which makes it unnecessary to remove the tip from the end that goes into the mouth. The presence of the plug 1 makes it possible to build as firm a mouth-end as is now customary in. cigars, but the air-passage 7 is within the said tip and so shielded as to be protected from the teeth or lips of the smoker. Its presence, however, insures adequate draft through the cigar from the end 8 to be lighted. The air-passage 7 may have any desired area or sha e in cross-section, and may be of any desired length. In practice,'it need not be of large diameter, nor extend very far into the cigar. v

The plug lmay be made of amber, ivory, porcelain, white or pink coral, glass, wood, rubber, or any other material that will allow the tobacco to be formed securely around it. If desired, the implement may be relatively longer than shown in the drawings, if greater length be more convenient for the workman to handle. the plug 1 is used only as a forming tool, and is removed from the completed cigar. If necessa or thought desirable, a shorter lug may e inserted in the air-passage 7 ibr shipping purposes, leaving a art'projecting for easy extraction. If esired, a short forming tool 1 may be left in the com pleted cigar.

It is understood that The interior shape of the air-passage 7 will resemble the exterior contour of the plug 1,- and is preferably tapered inwardly, but other forms may be used.

Having thus described this invention, I hereby reserve the benefit ofall changes in form, arrangement, order, or use of parts, as it is evident that many minor changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of this invention or the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. The herein-described method of building a cigar having an artificial air-passage, consisting in building the tip around 'a former, superimposing other leaves until the cigar is completed, and withdrawing the former leaving the open ended passage in the completed cigar.

2. The herein-described method of constructing a cigar from which the tip at the drawing end need not be removed, consisting in providing an air-passage within the said end by building tobacco leaves around a former, superimposing other leaves thereon until the tip and body ofthc cigar are completed, and withdrawing the said former, whereby the said air-passage is left unplugged at the drawing end.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aifix my signature.

LEE A. McLEAN. 

